Content based switching provides a way to offer different classes of service based on the content of a document. Content based switching operates to direct the document to a different network node based on information stored in the document. This may provide a way to tailor services to a particular document. For example, assume a data center comprises server A and server B, with server A providing information on cats and server B providing information on dogs. Content based switching technology may examine a document for the word “cat” or “dog,” and route the document to server A or server B accordingly.
As with many network systems, content based switching may introduce some delay into a system. The amount of delay tolerated by a particular system may vary based upon various design goals. The delay introduce by content based switching may also vary depending on a number of factors. For example, a document may be relatively large. The larger the document, the more time it may take to search the document for a particular set of information, referred to herein as a pattern. Therefore, there may be a substantial need to increase the efficiency of content based switching to decrease latency to meet the design parameters for a particular system.